Any time you go to Greece you will need to read or understand what there is on the menu. Now below, i have created a simple dictionary of ingredients from the Greek food where you can find all the different dishes and ingredients you might end up finding in Greece.

Hopefully that will help you understand better what you eating or know what you need in case you need to cook something Greek. The column on the left describes everything in Greek language, the middle is Greeklish – an effort to pronounce everything with latin letters and the third English explanation.

Enjoy!

Τρόφη

Trofi

Food

Αλάτη

Alati

Salt

Αλεύρι

Alevri

Flour

Αμυγδαλοτά

Amigdalota

Cookie often made on the islands and served at weddings and baptisms

Αρνί

Arni

Lamb.

Αστακός

Αstakos

Lobster.

Αυγό

Avgo

Eggs

Αυγολέμονο

Avgolemono

A warm sauce made with eggs and lemon. Served with meat, in soups, with vegetables.

Αρακάς

Arakas

Peas

Μπακαλιάρος

Bakaliaros

Cod, most often consuming the salted preserved cod, which was desalted and cooked with tomato sauce or fried.

Μπακλαβάς

Baklavas

Pastries made with phyllo, honey and walnuts

Μπάμιες

Bamies

Okra. Usually cooked with tomato sauce in a stew or roasted in the oven with tomatoes.

Μπιφτέκι

Bifteki

Beef patty. The hamburger! Usually a mixture of ground beef along with herbs, breadcrumbs and egg.

Μπισκότο

Biscoto

Cookie

Μπριάμ

Briam

A mixture of vegetables including potato, zucchini, eggplant and onion stewed or roasted in olive oil

Δίπλες

Diples

Pastry made with dough, fried in olive oil and dipped in honey

Ντολμάδες

Dolmades

Rice or meat wrapped in vine leaves, often served with avgolemono

Ντομάτα

Ntomata

Tomato

Ντοματοκεφτέδες

Ntomatokeftedes

Tomato patties. Patties made with tomatoes, flour and herbs fried

Ελιά

Elia

Olive

Ελαιόλαδο

Elaiolado

Olive Oil

Εξοχικό

Eksohiko

Meat cooked with peppers, tomatoes, onions and cheese in wax paper.

Φάβα

Fava

A puree made with fava beans which are yellow spit peas.

Φακές

Fakes

Lentils, traditionally cooked in a thick soup with olive oil and served with vinegar.

Φασολάκια

Fasolakia

Green beans. They are usually cooked with tomato sauce and olive oil.

Φασόλια

Fasolia

A general term for beans

Φέτα

Feta

Semi-soft cheese made from sheep and goat milk

Φραπέ

Frappe

A popular iced coffee made from instant coffee

Φρούτα

Frouta

Fruit

Γάλα

Gala

Milk

Γαλακτομπούρεκο

Galaktobouriko

A sweet made with phyllo and a custard filling

Γαρίδες

Garides

Shrimp

Γαύρος

Gavros

Anchovies. They are either marinated in vinegar and salt or fried.

Γραβιέρα

Graviera

A hard yellow and salty cheese made from sheep’s milk

Χωριάτικι Σαλάτα

Horiatiki (salata)

The village salad, classic salad you could eat in Greece. Made with tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, onion, feta and olive oil.